The 10 Best Smoked Salmon

We spent 43 hours on research, videography, and editing, to review the top options for this wiki. With its unmistakable aroma and distinct umami notes, nothing beats the taste of good smoked salmon -- on toast, on bagels, over poached eggs, in salads, or, quite frankly, with just about anything. Pick out your favorite salty, smoky, fishy treat from our comprehensive selection of this delicious and relatively low-calorie food.
When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to support our work.
Skip to the best smoked salmon on Amazon.

We spent 43 hours on research, videography, and editing, to review the top options for this wiki. With its unmistakable aroma and distinct umami notes, nothing beats the taste of good smoked salmon -- on toast, on bagels, over poached eggs, in salads, or, quite frankly, with just about anything. Pick out your favorite salty, smoky, fishy treat from our comprehensive selection of this delicious and relatively low-calorie food.
When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to support our work.
Skip to the best smoked salmon on Amazon.

10. Kasilof Wild Alaskan

The vacuum-sealed Kasilof Wild Alaskan is a high-quality product with a moderately strong flavor that arrives tasting fresh. It includes some serving suggestions and a recipe on the box, though not everyone will love smoked salmon pizza.

9. SeaBear Sockeye Fillet

The SeaBear Sockeye Fillet comes in a Gold Seal pouch that does a fantastic job of preserving its freshness until opening. The entire package is presented in a classy manner, making this tasty (and kosher) fish a great gift indeed.

8. Chicken of the Sea

Orders for the individually-packaged Chicken of the Sea come with twelve 3-ounce packages of skinless, boneless, wild-caught deliciousness that's tender and moist and and can be used to make many healthy dishes. It's perfect in sandwiches, casseroles, and more.

7. Crown Prince Natural Coho

The Non-GMO verified Crown Prince Natural Coho has only three ingredients -- salmon, sugar, and salt -- so you know it does not contain unwanted chemicals or preservatives. This large order can help stock a cabin or outfit a camping trip.

6. Alaska Smokehouse Jumbo Pack

With a native-inspired recipe, the Alaska Smokehouse Jumbo Pack contains three 8-ounce fillets, each prepared with their own unique seasoning blend. These scrumptious morsels are all natural, gluten free, and come fully cooked and ready to eat and enjoy.

5. Art of Appreciation Basket

With contents worthy of high-end hors d'oeuvres, the Art of Appreciation Basket is a salmon lover's dream. It comes with a mixture of styles and seasonings of lox goodness, including a dill-enhanced pâté, a cedar-smoked variety, and crackers to put underneath it all.

4. Don's Smokin'

Don's Smokin' signature recipe is prepared using charred, natural hickory wood and then brined in a gluten-free solution for an intense flavor that all seafood aficionados will enjoy. Heat it in the oven or in a pan for a just-cooked taste.

3. Solex Catsmo Nova

A one-pound package of Solex Catsmo Nova contains salt, hardwood smoke, and the flesh of that delightful pink swimmer. Unlike many available products, it does require refrigeration even before opening, but it will taste 100% fresh when you finally eat it.

2. Fairhaven Bay Seafood

Naturally high in protein and low in fat, the trio from Fairhaven Bay Seafood is sure to excite and intrigue even a beginner in the fine arts of eating cured river dwellers. This subtly varied gift pack allows for sublime enjoyment of salted and dried fish.

1. SeaBear Trio

This wild harvested SeaBear Trio comes with sockeye, coho, and pink varieties, a perfect selection for those interested in a spectrum of choices to broaden their palate. Three individually wrapped 6-ounce servings will make any lox lover's mouth water.

Be Delighted With Chicken Of The Sea

Culinary delicacies are versatile in nature, meaning they can be prepared in a variety of different ways. Food has been at the heart of both the economic and social development of human cultures around the world for thousands of years. It helps to stabilize societies, create jobs, and bring both people and families together in order to create a sense of identity and tradition. As this holds true for the rich histories of many foods, an indulgence like smoked salmon is no different.

Smoked salmon is an umbrella term for the fish that refers to any type of salmon (e.g. wild, farm-raised, fillet, or steak) or any part of the fish that has ultimately undergone a hot or cold smoking process. Typically, the wet or dry curing process precedes the actual smoking process. Wet curing involves soaking the fish in a salty brine solution prior to smoking, whereas dry curing involves simply dehydrating the fish over the course of several days. Smoked salmon should not be confused with gravlax or lox.

Gravlax is a type of raw salmon cured in a mixture of salt, sugar, and seasoning for the purpose of dehydration and elimination of bacteria that could otherwise cause it to spoil. Gravlax is served thinly-sliced on top of crackers as an appetizer. Lox is known for its popularity as part of traditional Jewish cuisine and is made from the belly of the fish where it is salt-cured, but uncooked, leaving it with a silky and rich texture that lends itself well to serving on bagels with cream cheese and onions.

The process of smoking takes place when the fish is less than three years old, preserving its freshness and full flavor. The two main preparation styles include cold and hot smoked salmon. With the predominant and popular cold smoking process, the fish is filleted with its sides being covered in a layer of salt for up to six hours to cure it. During the curing process, the salt draws out moisture, prevents bacterial growth, kills microbes, and infuses the fish with flavor. The fish can then be dried for several hours before it is slowly exposed to smoke in an eighty to ninety-nine-degree Fahrenheit environment over the course of several days. In this environment, the fish isn't completely cooked, which makes its resulting texture moist, silky and delicate.

Cold smoked salmon is similar in texture to lox with an additional layer of oil and a subtle smoky flavor. It is typically sold sliced at deli counters or in vacuum-sealed, see-through packaging. It is perishable and should be consumed within a couple of weeks if not frozen. By contrast, the hot smoking process actually cooks the fish using direct heat in much the same way meats are cooked and smoked. It is cooked anywhere from six to twelve hours directly over a fire, or in an enclosure heated by fire, at up to one hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit. The resulting texture of hot-smoked salmon is a consistency that is much firmer, drier, and with a more intense smoky flavor than the cold smoked variety. It can also be packaged with an un-refrigerated shelf life of up to five years.

Depending on the size of the fish, the length of time for the smoking process will vary when prepared inside a smokehouse. The flavor can also vary significantly, depending on the type of salmon being used (e.g. wild vs. farm-raised) as well as on the chosen method of smoking itself. For example, Scottish smoked salmon leverages wood chips from old whiskey or sherry casks for a truly distinct flavor. Most salmon found in supermarkets is of the cold smoked variety and comes from farmed populations.

Flavor Says It All

Eating smoked salmon provides the human body with several benefits in addition to simply offering a unique taste at a brunch spread or as part of a lavish dinner. It serves as a rich source of dietary proteins, fat, and iron to support healthy tissues and maintain superior memory function. Smoked salmon can also be sold as individually-wrapped servings that can either be stored in the freezer or in your refrigerator.

One must determine the type of salmon that will taste best for the corresponding context, meaning that flavor consideration matters depending on how you plan to serve it to a group of people. Smoked wild salmon typically has a more intense flavor than that of the farm-raised variety, so if you and your family prefer a complex taste with a strong essence of smoke, purchasing wild smoked salmon at the grocery store is a great option if you can find it.

Do be aware that wild salmon often carries a higher price tag than the farmed variety, but some feel that it's worth the extra expense. You'll need to make that determination on your own with some possible trial and error. Also, many packaged smoked salmons include either one or a mix of different species, each with its own unique characteristics. That said, it's important to experiment with the different types until you find the one that most suits your preference and taste buds.

Next, you must consider how long the salmon will stay fresh should you choose to keep it frozen for an extended period of time. Many types of salmon can stay fresh for up to a year in your kitchen freezer, so you aren't limited to consuming it right away, thanks to its preservation.

Finally, decide whether you want cold or hot smoked salmon. While cold smoked fish will give you a subtle essence of the smoking process, the hot smoked variety is much more forward-tasting, which is perfect for serving it as a main course complemented by other dishes. Hot smoked salmon is particularly delicious with freshly-squeezed lemon juice on top.

A Brief History Of Smoked Salmon

Salmon has been a part of human culture for more than 20,000 years, being considered a food source, a sign of the ritual of passing seasons, emblematic creatures that embody mysterious knowledge, and a subject for artistic expression.

The process of smoking fish for preservation purposes has been around for centuries. The Native Americans, for example, have held salmon in very high regard (along with other animals), basing some of their cultural rituals around the fish's presence, as it was believed that mistreating the animal would cause the great spirits of the ocean to drive the salmon away.

Smoked salmon was first brought to the United Kingdom in the late 1800s by Eastern European immigrants to London. The fish was smoked in an effort to preserve it from spoiling with the lack of available refrigeration technology. The nineteenth century saw the beginnings of the American smoked salmon industry, first on the Pacific coast, where wild Pacific salmon from both Alaska and Oregon were caught between the spring and fall seasons. During World War Two, the smoking process was further developed in order to preserve salted fish so that it could travel for longer periods of time without spoiling.

The evolution of the modern railroad industry and, other means of long-distance transportation, allowed the Pacific smoked salmon market to expand significantly, helping the fish to become a major part of the American diet to this day.

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A wandering writer who spends as much time on the road as behind the computer screen, Brett can either be found hacking furiously away at the keyboard or perhaps enjoying a whiskey and coke on some exotic beach, sometimes both simultaneously, usually with a four-legged companion by his side. He hopes to one day become a modern day renaissance man.

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